Improved traveling-trunk



' t son Who has had to deal i e' j UNITED STATES t ATENT rrrcn.-

GEERT DE BRETTON, OF NEWV ORLEANS, LOUISIANA, ASSIGNOR TO HIM` SELF AND JOSHUA E. VOSE, OF SAME PLAGE.

IMPROVED TRAVELING-TRUNK.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 81,756, dated September l, 1868.

.To all whom it may concern.- I

Be it known that-1, GEERT DE BRET'roN, ofthe city ot' New Orleans, parish ot Orleans, and State of Louisiana, have invented a certain new, useful, and Improved Traveling-Trunk; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part ot' this specification, in which- Figure-1 is a front. and Fig. 3 an end view of the same when closed; Fig. 2 a front and Fig. 4 an end View of it whenopen.

The very great inconvenience and annoyance resulting from the necessity of having to litt out the tray of trunks, as ordinarily construct ed, in order to secure access to any article below the same, or, it there be no tray, from being obliged to take out everything lying above the sought-for article in order to reach the same, is such familiar knowledge that a bare reference to it is sufficient to indicate the importance of my improvement, which totally avoids the said inconvenience. Y

rEhe chief object, in fact, of my improvement is to accomplish such end, and I do it by constructing a trunk in parts or sections, which, when the trunk is open, present a system of shelves throughout the whole ot' its interior, which are as easily accessible as thefshelves ot' a Wardrobe, closet, or any other like thing, and secure a compartment for soiled clothes, in which they can be kept entirely separate from everything else in the trunk.

Another annoyance of such magnitude as to amount to a positive evil that is inseparably incident to the use of trunks as commonly made arises out ot1 the use of cloth and leather straps for holding the cover of the trunk in an upright position when the trunk is open, and for re'enforcing the lock when the trunk is closed by partially encircling the same inthe way of bands that are secured by buckles after they have been tightly drawn. A rupture of the cover-sustaining straps not unfrequently entails the breaking or tearing oft' ot' the hinges of the trunk; and there is probably not a perwith trunks or use them who has not been more or less troubled and vexed by the yielding of the buckles or outside straps, or by thcslipping of their ends between the cover and the body ot the trunk inthe act of shutting down the former to close the latter. By the substitution ot metallic straps of peculiar construction and arrangement, in lieu ot" cloth and leather, in the fabrication ot' the above appliances, I remedy this latter evil as completely as the first to which I have adverted.

Myinvention will he better and more quickly understood by referring to the drawings, upon which at all the figures the same letters deA note the same parts.

At Fig. 3 my improved trunk is represented as when closed in an end view; and it will be perceived that in the upper front part of the lower portion or body proper of the same there is a sectional divisioirinto a distinct part, elnbraeing the front upper corner ofthe body proper and constituting about one-fourth ot' the same, and marked D. This part may, however, obviously be made slightly smaller or more capacious and still be substantially'the same thing, it being onlynecessary so to order its dimensions as that its rear side shall never go hack quite to the center ot' the trunk, and thus prevent the proper placing ot' the handles. At the upper rear eornerot part D itis hinged at three points, a, at least, to the contiguous front corner ot' the body proper, so th at it can be turned over into the position that is shown most clearly at Fig. 4. The lower rear corner of part D is curved or rounded in order that this part may the more readily and smoothly pass over the clothes that are in that part of the trunk-body proper that is immediatelybelowitinitsarticulationuponits hinges in the one direction or the other, or as it is opened or closed, a corresponding formation being ot' course made in the angle in the two ends of the trunk into which this corner tits.

The top of part D, when it occupies the position shown at Figs. 2 and .4, constitutes Va shelf, and the space above it may be divided by a transverse partition, 1, into two compartments, E and F; or any number of compartments may be created by a multiplication of such partitions, which compartments, whatever be their number, should be covered by doors provided with hinges and proper fastenings to prevent the falling out of whatever is placed within them whenever partD is turned down into the position as shown at Fig. 3 preparatory to closing the trunk.

Across that port-ion of the body proper of the trunk that is behind the part D when that part is down, as at Fig. 3,'a shelf, b, is introduced a little above the bottom of said part, as is clearly shown at Fig. 2, the object of this arrangement being to bring into view and make more accessible such articles as may be packed below such shelf and in the rear part of the trunk.

Below the shelf b there is no partition ordivision of the trunk, which hence a'ords sutiieient space for the packing et such articles as are too large to be bestowed on shelves or in the smaller compartments above. The space between shelf b and the topof the body proper of the trunkmay be subdivided, as shown,into compartments G and H, or in any other manner that may be deemed desirable, itbeing understood that, as in part D,whatever the number of compartments, each is to be provided with a door. A bonnet-box can perhaps be more properly introduced on shelf b than anywhere else in the trunk.

It will thus be'seen that when the part D occupies the position as shown at Figs. 2 and 4 a series of shelves, conveniently subdivided, make it easy to reach everything in the trunk without any general disturbance of its contents, and that consequently my first Objectis completely attained. y

Metallic facili gs c are employed'in the ordinary mannerto cover and conceal all the extern-al `joints ot' the trunk, as shown at Figs. l

and 3.

The trunk as thus far described in one sense constitutes awhole or perfect trunk, and hence the cover A may not improperly be designated an extra cover. This cover may be provided with any number of compartments, and in it, if deemed desirable, may be kept soiled clothes, quite away from contact with everything else in the trunk. At each'end of the cover A is placed a curved metallic supporting-bar, B, properly secured thereto, which titsinto a similarly-curved sheath, B', thatis attached externally upon each end ot' the trunk-body proper, as shown at Figs. 3 and 4.

The bars B may be so constructed as to hold the cover A at any intermediate position between an upright and a closed one, and they are completely exempt from all the objectionable characteristics of the ordinary appliances employed for preventing trunk-covers from falling backward.

The hasp J of the lock must be sufficiently long to extend from the cover A, to which it is securely fastened at its upper end, below the part D, so as to overlap the same and reach the lock, which is placed substantially as shown at Fig. 1.. This hasp should be hinged or have an articulating joint at some point not far below the top ot' part D, and, if found desirable, a pin, K, may project from its under side, so as to take in a hole in the front of part D. The hinge in thejoint in the hasp provides a means for throwing the same, when the trunk is open, over the upper edge of cover A, and thus out of the way.

On each side of the hasp I place a metallic strap, U, as adjnncts to the lock andfhasp or substitutes for the ordinary leather straps upon the outside of trunks, which are pvoted at their upper ends to the front part of cover A and secured by a screw-pin into connection with a novel socket below part D whenever the trunk is closed, at their lower ends, thus in effeet subserving the purpose of two additional locks, while `in point of fact there is but one key-lock required or used on the trunk.

When the trunk is to be opened the lower extremities of straps C are disconnected from the socket below part D and brought up and secured in similar appliances near hasp J at its upper end, so that they can never be caught between the lower edge of the cover and the upper edge of the body of the trunk, as is the case with leather straps.

l My improved trunk may be covered and iinished externally in any usual manner, and it may be strengthened by any approved method or means commonly employed for vsuch purpose, and rollers may be applied underneath it, as in the case of all trunks.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s-

l. The combination of partD with the trunkbody proper', when these parts are united, constructed, and arranged so as to be convertible into a system of shclves,substantially as herein described, for the purpose set forth.

2. The above combination, in combination with the extra cover A, when the several parts are united, constructed, and arranged for con joint operation substantially as described, for the purpose set forth.

3. rlhc hasp J and metallic straps C, when severally constructed as described, in combination with a trunk provided with a part, D, and an extra cover, A, substantially as herein described, for the purpose set forth.

- GEERT DE BRETTON.

Witnesses:

RUFUs R. RHODES, HENRY A. BoUDoUsQUnz. 

